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This is an archive article published on January 17, 2004

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The quiet Californian town of Santa Maria looked as if it was preparing for a Michael Jackson concert, rather than a 30-minute appearance i...

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The quiet Californian town of Santa Maria looked as if it was preparing for a Michael Jackson concert, rather than a 30-minute appearance in a courtroom with a 120 seat capacity. On the eve of Jackson8217;s arraignment, helicopters hovered over the court complex, while police on the ground tried to corral hordes of news media crews that had already staked out their turf around the courthouse.

In the court complex8217;s normally vacant car park, television crews from around the world, including Britain, Germany and Japan, snapped up spaces at 250 a day for their satellite transmission vans. And with hotel rooms almost impossible to come by, newspaper reports said local residents near the courthouse were hawking their digs to the press for 1,000 a week.

8220;King of Pop8221; Michael Jackson pleaded innocent on Friday to child molestation charges during a five-minute hearing in which he was scolded by a judge for arriving 20 minutes late at the Santa Maria, California, court. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville told Jackson not to be late again, and set a hearing for February 13. Hundreds of fans were present outside the courthouse to show him support.

Michael Jackson has been 8220;isolated8221; by the radical Nation of Islam group, the singer8217;s former spokesman said on Friday as Jackson pleaded on child sex charges. 8220;I wouldn8217;t say he8217;s kept semi-captive but he has certainly been isolated by the Nation of Islam,8221; said Stuart Backerman, who resigned December 31 as Jackson8217;s spokesman because of what he called 8220;strategic differences8221;.

 

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